The European Commission announced a new agreement with the Parliament and Council to help the EU negotiate better terms in non-EU public procurement markets for EU businesses. The International Procurement Instrument will permit the EU to start investigations where procurement restrictions have been alleged, undertake consultations with the accused country and restrict access to the EU procurement market as a reciprocal measure, if needed, the commission said March 15. These restrictions would take the form of adjustments for tenders from the country in question or by excluding certain tenders from the country in question, it said.

The U.K.'s financial regulatory authorities released a joint statement on sanctions relating to the "cryptoasset sector," to aid compliance with the recent waves of sanctions on Russia and Belarus following their invasion of Ukraine. The statement from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and the Financial Conduct Authority lays out steps to reduce sanctions risk on crypto assets. The authorities' recommendations include "updating business-wide and customer risk assessments," making sure due diligence processes root out customers who use corporations to hide the source of funds, ensuring that customers are screened against updated sanctions lists, identifying activity not in line with standard customer profile, educating compliance teams on how blockchain analytics must be screened, and engaging with public-private partnerships and private-private partnerships to gain insights on the "latest typologies and additional controls that might be relevant and share their own best practice examples."

A group of countries aligned themselves with the EU's recent sanctions action taken against Belarus for its role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Council said March 11. On Feb. 24, the council extended the sanctions on Belarus for another year, until Feb. 28, 2023, and amended the statements of reasons for "27 natural and 7 legal persons" subject to the sanctions. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway will ensure that their national policies conform with the EU's decision.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added a blog post titled "Russia: What has changed and what do I need to do?" The post lays out recent changes to the Russia sanctions regime following its invasion of Ukraine, noting the points of contact for licensing and reporting purposes. The blog post includes brief summaries of U.K. sanctions action and what to do regarding asset freezes, sectoral measures, licensing, crypto assets, OFSI reporting and the Economic Crime Bill.

The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit removed Belarus as a permitted destination from nine open general export licenses, the ECJU said. The licenses are the OGELs for chemicals; chemicals from December 2019; cryptographic development; cryptographic development from December 2019; export after exhibition: dual-use items; export for repair/replacement under warranty: dual-use items; export for repair/replacement under warranty: dual-use items from December 2019; X; and X from December 2019. The move was made in response to Belarus' role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended five entries listed under its Guinea-Bissau sanction regime. The entries were updated for Celestino de Carvalho, Military Command member; Antonio Injai, Armed Forces chief of staff; Augusto Mario Co, Military Command member; Daba Naualna, Military Command lieutenant colonel and spokesperson; and Mamadu Ture, Armed Forces deputy chief of staff.

The EU said March 10 it rejected a request from a Polish bicycle parts exporter to be exempted from the antidumping duties on bicycle parts from China. In imposing the duties, the EU extended the AD on bicycle parts from China to cover essential bicycle parts. Rowerland Piotr Tokarz, based on Broszkowice, Poland, requested an exemption from these duties. The duty will be collected from Oct. 17, 2019.

The EU imposed a definitive antidumping duty on aluminum foil from China following an expiry review of the existing duties, the European Commission said March 10. Following a request for an expiry review, the commission found that harm to the domestic industry would result if the duties were allowed to expire. The restrictive measures apply to "aluminium foil of a thickness of not less than 0,008 mm and not more than 0,018 mm, not backed, not further worked than rolled, in rolls of a width not exceeding 650 mm and of a weight exceeding 10 kg." The following rates apply: 6.4% for Alcoa (Shanghai) Aluminum Products and Alcoa (Bhai) Aluminum Industries, 20.3% for Shandong Loften Aluminum Foil, 24.2% for Zhenjiang Dingsheng Aluminum, and 30% for all other companies.

The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit published a General License temporarily permitting the provision of certain insurance and reinsurance services for aviation and space goods and aviation and space technology to Russian clients. The license took effect March 8, and anyone seeking to use the license must register via the U.K.'s SPIRE system within 30 days of their first use of the license, the ECJU said.

The EU initiated an expiry review of the antidumping duties on graphite electrode systems from India, the European Commission said March 9. GrafTech France, GrafTech Iberica, Showa Denko Europe and Tokai Erftcarbon requested the review, which covers "graphite electrodes of a kind used for electric furnaces, with an apparent density of 1,65 g/cm3 or more and an electrical resistance of 6,0 μ.Ω.m or less, and nipples used for such electrodes, whether imported together or separately." The investigation period covers Jan. 1, 2021, to Dec. 31, 2021.